Improvement in safety-hooks for harness-saddles



W. H. HENDERSON. Safety-Hook for Harness-Saddles.

No. 206,016 Patented July 16, 1878.

Inventor:

".PETERS, FHWLITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. HENDERSON, OF SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN SAFETY-HOOKS FOR HARNESS-SADDLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 206,016, dated July 16, 1878; application filed June 10, 1878.

To all whom it may concern? Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. HENDER- soN, of San J os, Santa Clara county, State of California, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Safety-Hooks for Harness- Saddles, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of an ordinary harness-saddle with my improvement attached. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same.

In order that those skilled in the art may make and use my invention, 1 will proceed to describe the exact manner in which I have carried it out.

My invention relates to that class of devices used in harness-saddles for the purpose of preventing the check-rein from becoming accidentally detached from the saddle-hook; and it consists in' the combination of devices hereinafter described and claimed.

Heretofore, as a means of holding the checkrein in place, the ordinary snap-spring has been used; but experience has disclosed the fact that the rein getting under the end of the spring will cause it to open, and the rein will become disengaged and fall upon the horses neck.

The object of my invention is to provide a cheap and effective remedy for this difficulty.

In the drawings, A represents an ordinary harness-saddle. To this is fixed the hook B, at the rear end of which is soldered or otherwise securely fastened the spring a, provided with the cross-bar b at its loose end. Through a hole in the hook near its rear end passes a loosely-swinging ring, 0, of sufficient diameter to close, at an angle, the opening between the hook and the saddle. Through this ring passes the loose end of the spring, so adjusted that the cross-bar presses upon the ring and holds it in position when the opening is closed, as shown in Fig. 1. When the check -rein is passed under the ring the bar moves up as the ring is raised, thus equalizing any strain that comes upon the spring. Should the rein become loose and hear back upon the spring, my improvement, presenting a broad surface for the rein to bear against, prevents it from slipping from the hook; and this I render the more certain and secure by securing the metal bearing, against which the ring is pressed, by the spring and cross-bar. By means of this broad surface, against which the rein bears, I prevent, to some extent, the wear upon the check-rein.

I am aware that the snapper-sprin g is in common use, and I do not claim such, broadly; but,

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A safety-hook for harness-saddles composed of the hook B, spring a, cross-bar b, and ring 0, all arranged substantially as shown and described.

IVILLIAM H. HENDERSON.

Witnesses:

GIvENs GEORGE, C. C. ltnnnoxn. 

